Thought processes and conversations started under the tilted cap of Tropicana Field. Someday everyone will know the Rays play in St. Petersburg, Florida, not TAMPA, or the fictitious city of TAMPA BAY.

Tonight was “Sonny” for the Rays

Rays 8,Orioles 1

What a difference a day makes. Maybe the day off on Monday put our bats to sleep. Good thing Andy was pitching tonight………..We needed to stay winning to keep pace with the Red Sox.

There was a lot of good tonight, but the main good has to go to the pitching performance of Andy Sonnanstine who improved to 4-1 on the season. the win also let the Rays stay on pace with the Boston Red Sox. That makes this weekends series even more important.

Sonnanstine went 8 innings and only gave up a lone run tonight via a Brian Roberts single to right that scored Adam Jones in the bottom of the third inning. Andy also only surrendered 6 hits in the game and had 5 strikeouts.

Honorable mention “Good Guys”:

*** Rays catcher Dioner Navarro must be seeing the ball extremely well this year. Navarro went 2-5 tonigt and stayed at .400 for the season. Dioner also picked up two RBI’s and threw out speed merchant Brian Roberts attempting to steal second base in the bottom of the first inning.

** Eric Hinske, who was the DH , tonight hit a two run homer to right in the top of the 4th inning to bring Evan Longoria home. Longoria had reached base on an infield single to short.

* I have to give the number one star to the entire team of the Rays right now. Since this was the last game in April 2008, they set records for wins, team pitching ERA, bullpen ERA, and Carl Crawford has scored more runs than any other Rays’ player in our short history.

The Bad

The is not a huge amount of Bad tonight, except that two Rays players did not get to celebrate hits tonight in the contest. Carl Crawford went 0-4 tonight, but scored a run, and Aki Iwamura also did not get a hit, going 0-3, but also scoring a run tonight.

The only other “stat” that can show any negative tonight, is the team left 9 men in scoring position tonight.

The Ugly

I have a habit of ripping the game attendance by fans, and tonight I will not shy from a away game crowds numbers. Camden Yards is in a beautiful area of the Baltimore Inner Harbor area. It is a masterpiece of a ballpark, but a crowd of 11,944 people, which is 24.8 % capacity is a crime.

These teams are vying for first place in the American League East in a year where it is wide open right now. To get momentium and fan support now is critical to a chase later the season. Baltimore and the Rays have been partners in the bottom rung of the East ladder for some time, and to see each of them clawing for the prize is an inspiration to baseball fans. True baseball fans.

Get a grip Oriole fans,. Do not blame the Nationals, like your ownership group does, show support in any ways possible to show the guys who wear your colors you are proud of the team. I wear my Rays cap every day to work, every day.

Former Rays Player of the Night:

Tonight’s Rays former player is the Cincinnati Red’s Ryan Freel. He went 3-5 tonight with an RBI to up his average to .321. Ryan has been the subject of trade romurs both before the year and recently involving several teams. Freel has been doing much of his work in the Cincy outfield this year.

Do not forget, the Rays game on Thursday is an afternoon affair that will be broadcast starting at 12:30 P.M. on the Florida sports Network (FSN).

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